This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Flow Cytometry


Evolution of flow cytometry as a drug screening platform


Flow cytometry is an established technology used in many research and clinical laboratories. The largest users are immunologists and haematologists who use it for cell sorting and analysis. Increasing requirements for processing larger numbers of patient samples led to the development of automated tube loading carousels and, later, multiwell plate-based sampling systems. The high speed quantitative high content analysis of cells also makes flow cytometry an attractive technology for drug discovery applications and it is used at many stages of this process. Recently it is also finding a niche in drug screening laboratories sharing bench space with other high throughput technologies. Flow cytometry is becoming an ideal tool, particularly in an environment where primary cell-based assays are increasingly being deployed to monitor drug responses.


F


low cytometry is a microscopical technique dating back to the 1930s1 and instruments have been commercially available since the 1970s. It was developed to allow high-speed quan- titative analysis of cells and other particles. Cells suspended in a liquid are passed through a focused laser beam to generate optical signals, such as light scattering and fluorescence. These signals are typi- cally processed in real time. Large numbers of par- ticles are analysed in a short period of time (1,000- 50,000/s) to provide statistically robust informa- tion about the cell population. Although single cells are the particles of interest, flow cytometry can be used for examining other types of particle, such as chromosomes, synthetic microspheres and other insoluble particulates2-4. Flow cytometry has long been recognised for its multiparameter capa- bility (12 parameters or more is common practice)


Drug Discovery World Spring 2013


as well as high speed analysis and sorting capabili- ties (>30,000 cells per second). In addition, its mul- tiparameter capabilities allow it to distinguish tens of cell subsets in multiplex format.


Plate-based flow cytometry


Multi-parametric analysis enables an extensive investigation of the complex interrelated mecha- nisms of drug action in cell-based systems. The ability to make high-content measurements has made flow cytometry an important tool used for drug discovery. It is used at every stage of the drug discovery cycle both in Pharma and Biotech com- panies, including target identification and valida- tion, hit identification, lead and candidate selection and safety studies. In vitro and ex vivo flow cytom- etry methods are routinely employed in toxicology studies assisting in identifying and characterising


43


By Dr Rob Jepras and Dr Steve Ludbrook


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80